AT&T Ups Offer for DirecTV to $50 Billion (Report)

The telephone company wants to pay $100 per share for the satellite TV firm, according to a Bloomberg report.

AT&T is inching closer to acquiring DirecTV at a price of approximately $50 billion, which is about $10 billion more than previously reported, according to Bloomberg, while other sources said Monday that a deal could be announced in the next couple of weeks.

TheWall Street Journal first reported two weeks ago that AT&T was interested in buying DirecTV for $40 billion, although the news didn't move the stock much. Several days later shares shot up 8 percent, an indication that a better price might be negotiated.

Executives at DirecTV and AT&T are figuring on a 12-month regulatory process before such a merger earns governmental approval, and DirecTV chief executive officer Mike White could exit the company after the merger -- or perhaps prior to its completion.

If AT&T and DirecTV were to combine, the merged company would serve about 26 million television customers -- a smaller number than a combined Comcast-Time Warner Cable, which would service 30 million TV customers if and when their proposed merger is completed.